bodyType

customContents

entityId

printArticlePageQuery

filter

article

body

urlAlias

articleSectionsContent

articleSeoArticle

articleSourceHeaderArticle

contentSchemaRenderContent

contentSubHeadlineContent

contentHeadlineContent

mainImagePrintArticleArticle

authorBlockPrintArticleArticle

contentSponsorTagContent

articlePianoPaywallContent

scmpYoutubeContent

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

query printArticlePageQuery(
  $entityId: String!
  $customContents: [CustomContentInput]
  $bodyType: BodyFormatTypeEnum
) {
  article(filter: {entityId: $entityId}) {
    entityId
    body(customContents: $customContents, type: $bodyType) {
      json
    }
    urlAlias
    ...articleSectionsContent
    ...articleSeoArticle_3o8td4
    ...articleSourceHeaderArticle
    ...contentSchemaRenderContent
    ...contentSubHeadlineContent
    ...contentHeadlineContent
    ...mainImagePrintArticleArticle
    ...authorBlockPrintArticleArticle
    ...contentSponsorTagContent
    ...articlePianoPaywallContent
    ...scmpYoutubeContent
    ...hooksTrackPageViewArticle
    id
  }
}

fragment articlePianoPaywallContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksPaywallPromiseContent
}

fragment articleSectionsContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  sections {
    value {
      ...helpersCheckIfNewsSectionInFirstIndexSection
      ...entityLink
      name
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment articleSeoArticle_3o8td4 on Article {
  ...hooksArticleSeoArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersGetArticleTypeArticle
  entityId
  publishedDate
  updatedDate
  summary {
    text
  }
  subHeadline {
    text
  }
  body(customContents: $customContents, type: $bodyType) {
    text
  }
  keywords
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  topics {
    name
    entityId
    id
  }
  urlAlias
  authors {
    name
    id
  }
  images {
    style(filter: {style: "768x768"}) {
      url
    }
  }
  readingTime
}

fragment articleSourceHeaderArticle on Article {
  urlAlias
  ...entityLink
}

fragment authorBlockPrintArticleArticle on Article {
  ...defaultArticleDateContent
  ...authorNamesArticle
}

fragment authorNameAuthor on Author {
  ...entityLink
  name
  entityUuid
}

fragment authorNamesArticle on Article {
  authorLocations
  authors {
    entityId
    location
    ...authorNameAuthor
    id
  }
}

fragment blockquoteQuoteContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...contentShareWidgetContent
}

fragment checkersCheckContentContainsStarlingImageContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment contentHeadlineContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  headline
  socialHeadline
  ...contentHeadlineTagContent
  ...helpersUseContentSponsorContent
}

fragment contentHeadlineTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksContentHeadlineTagContent
}

fragment contentNewsletterWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    relatedNewsletters {
      ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
      id
    }
    id
  }
  sections {
    value {
      relatedNewsletters {
        ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
        id
      }
      id
    }
  }
  ... on Article {
    relatedNewsletters {
      ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment contentSchemaRenderContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...blockquoteQuoteContent
  ...imageContent
  ...inlineWidgetContent
  ...photoGalleryWidgetContent
  ...scmpYoutubeContent
}

fragment contentShareWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  urlAlias
  shortUrl
  socialHeadline
  headline
}

fragment contentSponsorTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...helpersUseContentSponsorContent
}

fragment contentSubHeadlineContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  subHeadline {
    json
  }
  summary {
    json
  }
  ...contentSchemaRenderContent
}

fragment defaultArticleDateContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksArticleDateUtilsContent
}

fragment entityLink on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  __typename
  entityId
  entityUuid
  urlAlias
  urlRedirect {
    toUrl
    id
  }
  application {
    entityId
    id
  }
  ... on Section {
    fullSectionPath {
      entityId
      id
    }
    parentSection
  }
  ...helpersAppBarVariantBase
  ...helpersApplicationBase
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusArticle
  ...helpersStyleSectionContent
}

fragment helpersAppBarVariantBase on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  ...helpersCheckIsLiveArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  ...helpersSectionContent
  ...helpersStyleSectionContent
}

fragment helpersApplicationBase on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusPage
}

fragment helpersCheckIfNewsSectionInFirstIndexSection on Section {
  name
}

fragment helpersCheckIsAmpEnabledArticle on Article {
  entityId
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  disableOffPlatformContent
  sponsorType
  published
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
}

fragment helpersCheckIsLiveArticle on Article {
  flattenTypeIds
  liveArticle {
    status
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsMainTopicContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPlusArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ... on Article {
    paywallTypes {
      entityUuid
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPlusPage on Page {
  urlAlias
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle on Article {
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle on Article {
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostiesPage on Page {
  urlAlias
}

fragment helpersCheckIsStyleArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersGetArticleTypeArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ... on Article {
    types {
      value {
        entityId
        id
      }
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter on Newsletter {
  entityId
  name
  alternativeName
  description {
    text
  }
  summary {
    text
  }
  homepageDescription {
    text
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizeArticleTypeEntityIdsArticle on Article {
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizeAuthorTypesArticle on Article {
  authors {
    types
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizedAuthorEntityIdsArticle on Article {
  authors {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersSectionContent on Section {
  fullSectionPath {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersStyleSectionContent on Section {
  fullSectionPath {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersUseContentSponsorContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    sponsor {
      ...sponsorTagSponsor
      name
      type
      id
    }
    id
  }
  ... on Article {
    sponsorType
  }
  ...helpersCheckIsMainTopicContent
}

fragment hooksArticleDateUtilsContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  createdDate
  publishedDate
  updatedDate
}

fragment hooksArticleSeoArticle on Article {
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  ...hooksContentHeadlineTagContent
  ...helpersCheckIsAmpEnabledArticle
  entityId
  headline
  socialHeadline
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  authors {
    entityId
    id
  }
  images {
    generic_og: style(filter: {style: "og_image_scmp_generic"}) {
      url
    }
    styles(filter: {styles: ["og_image_posties_article", "og_postmag", "og_image_style", "og_image_scmp_analysis", "og_image_scmp_explainer", "og_image_scmp_editorial", "og_image_scmp_fact_check", "og_image_scmp_debate", "og_image_scmp_live", "og_image_scmp_obituary", "og_image_scmp_opinion", "og_image_scmp_review", "og_image_scmp_series", "og_image_scmp_generic"]}) {
      url
      style
    }
    type
  }
  urlAlias
}

fragment hooksContentHeadlineTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  __typename
  ... on Article {
    types {
      value {
        name
        entityId
        description {
          text
        }
        id
      }
    }
    ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  }
  flag
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  ...hooksContentHelperContent
}

fragment hooksContentHelperContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...helpersSanitizeArticleTypeEntityIdsArticle
  ...helpersSanitizeAuthorTypesArticle
  ...helpersSanitizedAuthorEntityIdsArticle
  flag
}

fragment hooksPaywallPromiseContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
}

fragment hooksTrackPageViewArticle on Article {
  entityId
  publishedDate
  headline
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  urlAlias
  authors {
    name
    id
  }
  entityUuid
}

fragment imageContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  headline
  ...checkersCheckContentContainsStarlingImageContent
}

fragment inlineWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...contentNewsletterWidgetContent
}

fragment mainImagePrintArticleArticle on Article {
  images {
    title
    url
    isSlideshow
    size_652x446: style(filter: {style: "652x446"}) {
      url
    }
  }
}

fragment photoGalleryDialogContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  __typename
  ...contentShareWidgetContent
}

fragment photoGalleryWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...photoGalleryDialogContent
}

fragment scmpYoutubeContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  urlAlias
  publishedDate
}

fragment sponsorTagSponsor on Sponsor {
  name
  type
  images {
    url
  }
}


sections

types

disableOffPlatformContent

sponsorType

published

headline

socialHeadline

authors

images

publishedDate

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

keywords

topics

readingTime

authorLocations

entityUuid

Mary Ann

Mary Ann Benitez

The fear of a swine-flu outbreak looms larger in Hong Kong now the city has confirmed its first infection. Like the rest of the world, we have been bracing for a global flu pandemic. On Wednesday, the World Health Organisation raised its pandemic alert level to five, one short of the maximum, signalling that the A(H1N1) flu virus was spreading more easily between humans. 
Fears of a pandemic have come and gone since the H5N1 bird-flu virus began spreading across Asia in 2003, six years after first crossing the species barrier in Hong Kong to infect humans. 
It was only 10  days ago that the WHO alerted the world to a new variant of swine flu suspected to have killed dozens of people in Mexico. Soon, cases of the same virus were confirmed in the United States.
 Flu  is an upper respiratory tract infection. Symptoms include fever, runny nose, sore throat, nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea. Flu viruses are found in many animal species. In humans and pigs, both H1 and H3 flu viruses have been found. 
Flu is, by itself, rarely fatal. But it can lead to deadly complications such as pneumonia. A new strain comes up every now and then against which much of the population has no natural immunity, triggering a pandemic.
Swine flu is caused by a virus similar to the type of flu virus that, in various forms, infects people every year, but is typically found only in pigs or in people who have direct contact with pigs. 
From December 2005 to January this year, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention recorded 12 cases of humans infected  with swine flu. Five of the patients had been directly exposed to pigs and six had been near pigs. 
'In the past, swine flu had been transmitted to humans and occasionally also it had been transmitted from human to human, but to a limited extent,' Malik Peiris,  scientific director of the Hong Kong University-Pasteur Institute, said. 'It has not led to sustained human-to-human transmission until this particular occasion. This seems to be transmitting efficiently and so there is certainly a possibility that it might become a pandemic.' 
Outbreaks of swine flu in pigs are known to have occurred in North America, South America, Europe, Africa and  parts of East Asia, including China and Japan. 'It does not cause a major problem in pigs so it is not taken very seriously by the pig industry,' Professor Peiris said.
The new flu strain is a mixture of swine flu from North America, Asia and Europe, bird flu and human flu.
'It manifests like ordinary flu but can in some cases quickly deteriorate to pneumonia and death,' Peter Cordingley, spokesman for the WHO's  Western Pacific regional office, said. 'We are still working on how it operates.' 
In Mexico, health officials suspect it has killed more than 100 people and made some 2,500 ill. People there began falling ill with flu in early February, but authorities initially thought  it was seasonal flu.
'From what I understand they thought there was a resurgence of influenza  ... it took them some time to realise that this was not just normal influenza but that it was an unusual flu. That really was the problem,' Professor Peiris said.
It was his  laboratory in Hong Kong that was the first to isolate the virus responsible for the  severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak in 2003. 
On April 17 the US Centres for Disease Control determined that two children in  neighbouring counties in southern California were suffering from swine flu. The centre now believes that the earliest onset of swine flu in the United States was March 28. 
In Mexico a four-year-old boy in Veracruz state contracted the virus before April 2.  Four days later local officials declared a health alert due to a respiratory disease outbreak in the town of La Gloria in Veracruz. By April 24, Mexico had confirmed 20 deaths from suspected swine flu and was investigating another 40 suspected flu deaths. 
Schools, museums, libraries and theatres closed in Mexico City, where most of the cases were reported. 
On Friday  the Mexican capital began an unprecedented five-day shutdown designed to slow down the spread of the disease by creating  fewer opportunities for close interaction between people. 
More than 2,700 other people worldwide are now suspected  to be infected with the virus.
Announcing the decision to raise the WHO's alert level to five,  director general Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun  said all countries should 'immediately' activate pandemic-preparedness plans.
She said effective and essential measures included heightened surveillance, early detection and treatment, and infection control in all health facilities.
'Influenza pandemics must be taken seriously precisely because of their capacity to spread rapidly to every country in the world,' she said in Geneva. 
Still, she said the world 'is better prepared for an influenza pandemic than at any time in history'. 
Hong Kong has been preparing for just such an emergency since the 2003 Sars outbreak.  On Friday, Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen  declared that the city's response level had been raised from 'serious' to 'emergency' following confirmation that a 25-year-old visitor from Mexico had the new flu strain. 
The man travelled to Hong Kong via Shanghai on Thursday. He developed symptoms hours after arrival and sought medical treatment at Ruttonjee Hospital. He has since been transferred to Princess Margaret Hospital. The Wan Chai hotel where he stayed has been placed under quarantine lockdown for seven days.
Holiday camps in Sai Kung and Chai Wan have been readied to serve as isolation centres. Districts have been given HK$10 million to buy hand-washing aids and promote good hygiene. The Hospital Authority is ready to open 18 dedicated clinics for swine-flu cases if hospitals become overwhelmed. 
Private doctors have been urged to send suspected flu patients to hospital. Travellers arriving by land or air must fill in forms saying where they have been and whether they have flu symptoms. Health officials will discuss enhanced border controls with Shenzhen authorities.
Secretary for Food and Health York Chow Yat-ngok  said: 'The chance of controlling and containing this disease is limited, so we will be draconian in our policy. We don't know how damaging or virulent this will be. We don't want it to spread.' He appealed to people who had been in contact with the Mexican traveller to come forward.
Mr Tsang urged people not to panic but to guard against the virus. He said every effort was being made to mitigate the impact of a flu pandemic.
Experts say  that Hong Kong, having learned the lesson of Sars - which was caused by an unknown coronavirus strain  that infected 1,755 people in Hong Kong, killing 299 of them  - is much better prepared for a flu pandemic than it would otherwise have been.
Professor Peiris said: 'I think at the moment in Hong Kong, all the measures that can be taken are more or less in place.'
Tim Pang Hung-cheong,  spokesman for the Patients Rights Group,  said: 'After the Sars experience both the Hong Kong government and Hong Kong people are now very well prepared for an epidemic.'
The government was 'more vigilant and quicker in responding' to epidemics, he said, and Hongkongers' awareness was quite high. 'A lot of people go to buy masks and are mindful that personal hygiene be kept. They are very conscious about environmental hygiene,' he said.
'Also, the message is quite clear, so people know they have to be very conscious about the epidemic. Up to now I think the government has done a good job,' Mr Pang said.
But infectious-diseases specialist Lo Wing-lok  said there might not be enough isolation beds if there was a pandemic affecting a million people in Hong Kong and even 1 per cent of them required hospital treatment. About 1,300 isolation beds have been created in public hospitals.
'We don't have the capacity to cater for a sudden surge of patients to that degree,' he said. 'Whether our system can stand it remains to be seen.'
If there is a pandemic, it will be the first since Hong Kong flu killed an estimated  1 million people worldwide in 1968. The worst flu pandemic began in 1918 and killed tens of millions of people.  
US-based flu researcher Henry Niman  said the swine-flu outbreak 'has much in common with the 1918 outbreak, including the start in the late spring as a mild infection, the targeting of previously healthy adults, and the origin as swine H1N1'. 
'Over the summer the swine H1N1 [virus] will proliferate in the southern hemisphere and recombine with H1N1 seasonal flu, leading to a much more virulent H1N1 in the fall [autumn],' he said. 
'Tamiflu resistance will almost certainly develop in swine H1N1, leading to a heavy reliance on a well-matched vaccine,' he said. Tamiflu and Relenza are the principal drugs used to fight flu.  
Dr Lo said: 'We should have the expectation that this will have a very serious impact on our community and the government alone won't be able to handle it. The government has to rely on the co-operation of Hong Kong people. 
'This is potentially more serious than Sars and Hong Kong people can do a lot.'



A feverish wait over swine flu